


Second Time's the Charm

by AceAltair



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Asexual Character, But ships aren't until late into the story, Depression, Implied Queerplatonic Relationship, It's all hunky dory, M/M, Possible Suicide Mention, So there will be Tomtord, and Eddmatt, possible self harm, there's actual plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-03-06 17:43:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13416330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceAltair/pseuds/AceAltair
Summary: After the events of The End, Edd, Tom, and Matt decided to live in individual apartments. Things were "okay" for the most part. The healing was slow, but was easier with best friends by your side. Everything was just fine until Tord showed up.After recovering from the accident, Tord returns to the scene of the wreckage to find an essential item. When he discovers it's not there, he must turn back to his old friends to find it. And this time? They wouldn't live to tell the tale.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Uhh this bad, sorry. Might rewrite later.

Tord surveyed the rubble before him, taking in the entire scene. It's been many months since that day his life's work, quite literally, fell apart. The destroyed house held a lot of unwanted memories, something he'd been constantly trying to forget. No wonder he's been dreading coming back here.

"Red Leader, have you found it yet?" One of his soldiers, Paul, asked through his earpiece. Tord had stationed a couple soldiers near the area, to make sure they didn't receive any unwelcome visitors.

Tord snapped out of his memory-filled trance. "No, not yet," he responded. He trudged through the rubble, making his way towards his old secret room. The walls were made of metal and remained unscathed during the explosion. Every single item in that room was sure to have survived.

Once Tord entered the room, he felt like he couldn't breathe. He would never admit it to anyone, but he missed this place. Old blueprints and drawings littered the floor. Everything in the room was slightly out of place, but it was preserved regardless. He opened up a secret compartment from underneath the floor; this was where he stored his most important artifacts. Once he looked around, he couldn't believe it.

Everything was gone.

••••

"Hey Matt, don't you think you have enough mirrors?" Edd asked, smiling slightly at his ginger-haired friend.

"What? I obviously don't have enough!" Matt responded loudly, sticking another mirror onto the wall. Edd and Matt were stalling for time, waiting for Tom to come join them for their weekly movie night.

Ever since the house exploded that one fateful day; Edd, Matt, and Tom made an effort to be closer. After all, it's hard to take friendship for granted after him.

"Tim if you don't get in here now we're going to start the movie without you!" Matt screamed, loud enough for Tom to hear from his apartment. Insane Zombie Pirates From Hell 5 was not something the boys wanted to miss.

A sudden knock at the door startled Edd and Matt. It couldn't have been Tom, the two deduced, because Tom would have come in without knocking. The three friends made sure to exchange house keys.

A frantic twist of the doorknob only frightened Edd and Matt further; turning to look at each other with wide eyes. This was definitely not Tom.

Cautiously, Matt approached the door. With a gulp, he unlocked it. Immediately, the door flung open. The figure on the other side stepped into the room, eyeing the interior with little interest. What caught his attention; however, were the two males.

Edd and Matt stood there in complete panic, unable to move. They tried to scream but no sound managed to come out.

"Hello old friends," the figure said with a malicious smile.

The repeated phrase lit a spark in Edd and he decided to take action. Quickly pulling out his phone, he scrolled over to Tom's contact, texted "fruit kumquats", and hit send. Understandably a silly thing to say, but the name held a deeper meaning.

Read at 7:47.

Out of nowhere, the phone was snatched out of his hand. "I hope you weren't planning on calling the police," the figure said, reading over Edd's ridiculous text message and snorting to himself, "what a stupid thing to say."

"Hey sunshine lollipops," a familiar voice said from behind the figure. The man gasped and quickly tried to turn around. Smash! An empty bottle shattered against his head. The figure immediately fell to the ground with a huge thud. Rapidly losing consciousness, Tord weakly looked up at his attacker.

"Fuck you," Tom snarled, smashing another bottle over Tord's head, knocking him out cold.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for some edge.

Edd face palmed. "We're going to interrogate Tord."

"What does that mean?" Matt asked.

Tom shook his head, Matt was never the smart one. "We're going to ask Tord some questions, and if you don't like his response you can slap him," he answered, grinning mischievously to himself at the last statement.

"Oh, I got it!" Matt exclaimed. He approached Tord and stared down; the aforementioned male stared back up at him with wide eyes, unsure of the command he received. "What color is my underwear?" Matt demanded. Tord gave him a dumbfounded expression before quickly being slapped across the face.

"Matt no, you have to wait for him to respond first," Edd chuckled softly.

"Oh," Matt blinked in understanding. He stood still for a couple seconds before walking away. "Yeah, I've got nothing."

Tom rolled his nonexistent eyes and swiftly approached the devil-horned male. "Why did you decide to come back?" he growled, giving him a hateful stare. It was no secret that Tom held a deep hatred for Tord, and he wasn't afraid of showing it. Tord returned the hateful stare, confirming the feeling was mutual.

Instead of responding, Tord simply spat on Tom's face. "I don't have to answer to you," he snarled.

Tom's face morphed into that of pure rage and his fist harshly collided with Tord's face, causing him to hang his head in pain. He grabbed Tord's head, forcing him to look into Tom's black eyes. "Look at you, tied to a chair, unable to do anything. If I really wanted to, I could kill you right now. I win, you lose, simple as that." Yet another fist assaulted Tord's bruised face.

"Tom stop!" Edd yelled, pushing Tom away from the red-hoodied male.

"What the hell!" Tord yelled at Tom, who was currently being restrained by Edd and Matt. "You're insane! Edd, why are you friends this guy?"

"Because unlike you, I was actually there for him," Tom snapped back, slowly beginning to calm down.

Tord grimaced at the comment but did not answer. Edd sighed and let go of Tom, slowly walking up to Tord. "Please answer me this, why did you leave?"

Their ex-friend's eyes went wide, the question was not anticipated. "I-I told you, I went to the big city," he answered.

"Bullshit," Tom responded, earning a tug from Matt.

Edd sighed yet again, clearly upset. "We all know that's a lie, well maybe except for Matt."

"Hey!" Matt exclaimed, offended.

"Anyways," Edd continued, ignoring Matt, "you might as well just tell us the truth. We won't let you go until you do."

Tord groaned in annoyance, yet complied. "I guess after how many times I've screwed you over, you at least deserve an explanation," he said.

The trio of friends waited while Tord composed himself. No doubt he must be in a lot of pain after the assault by Tom. "I went to go join the Red Army," he finally admitted. "I didn't want you guys to find out... so I left."

The tension in the room only grew. Tord was more dangerous than they thought.

"The amount of testosterone in this room is making me sick," Tom responded sarcastically, breaking the tension-filled silence. He gave a single wave and exited the apartment, slamming the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom is a sad boi and Tord is an evil boi.

"I can't believe that stupid commie is back," Tom growled. 

He picked up a dart from his coffee table and aggressively threw it at a picture of Tord. The dart impacted through the picture and embedded into the wall. The tip of the dart landed directly through Tord's pupil. Countless other holes littered the picture from previous throws.

"Bullseye," Tom smirked. 

He picked up a nearby bottle of Smirnoff off the coffee table and took a well deserved swig. The poisonous liquid burned as it went down his throat but Tom could care less. After seeing Tord again, he needed to get blackout drunk. He momentarily pondered if this was such a good idea then shrugged it off; Tord was restrained and Edd and Matt were capable of defending themselves. At least that's what he hoped. 

Through his half-drunken haze, Tom began to feel regret. The exact feeling he tried to drink away in the first place. He left his friends alone when they needed him the most. Tord was a murderer, no doubt about that, and extremely dangerous. They could be dead right now because Tom was too selfish to be there to help them. 

‘God I hate this feeling.’ Tom thought, clutching the empty Smirnoff bottle tightly in his hands.

The alcohol wasn't helping at all. In a desperate attempt, he grabbed another bottle and chugged it down. 

"I-I need to go help them!" he gasped, intense guilt overwhelming his system.

He shakily stood up and attempted to run towards the door. In his drunken state he quickly lost balance and fell to the floor with a loud thud. He attempted to get back up but his limbs felt like jelly and his head weighed fifty pounds. The guilt and shame filled his every being. His entire body violently shook and hot tears poured from his black eyes.

He couldn't do it. 

••••

"So uh, what happened to your face?" Edd questioned.

"Kind of a personal question to be asking, don't you think?" Tord rolled his eye, suddenly conscious of his eyepatch and scarred face. 

"Kind of personal to be breaking into my apartment, don't you think?" Edd retorted. 

"Woo good one Edd!" Matt cheered and Tord gave an audible groan of annoyance. 

"I guess you do have a point," the devil-horned male slightly shrugged, limited in movement due to the ropes keeping him constrained. "When my robot blew up, I got injured during the fall. Nothing the doctors couldn't fix, I'm fine."

Edd walked closer to his ex-friend and closer examined his face. The entire right side of his face was covered in big, ugly scars. The scars were bright red and looked severely agitated. From the looks of it, Tord had been scratching at them and interfering with the healing process. But hey, it was only a guess, Edd was no doctor. He could only imagine the damage under the eyepatch.

"Can you give me some space?" Tord spoke up after a while, clearly uncomfortable from how close Edd was to his face.

Edd chose to ignore him and further inspected his face. He tentatively reached his hand out and lightly touched the scarred tissue.

"Does this hurt?"

Tord flinched from the contact and tried to pull away. Just a simple touch caused his wounds to feel like they were on fire.

"N-no I'm fine, doesn't hurt at all," he responded, avoiding eye contact. 

Edd rolled his eyes, detecting the lie. He pulled away his hand and announced he was going to properly treat Tord's wounds. He then retreated into the bathroom to grab a first-aid kit.

Upon his retreat, Matt looked at Tord and gave a huge smile. "It's great to have you back Todd!"

Matt was happy to see him again? He punched him in the face! He blew up his house! Even for someone of Matt's intelligence, it's hard to forgive things like that.

"Matt do you uh, remember what happened?" Tord questioned.

"Of course I do!" The ginger responded indignantly. "You left to go to the big city! And when you left we all flushed ourselves down the toilet and found these weird sea people! They were blue and they tried to kill us and-"

"That's great Matt," Tord interrupted.

So he really doesn't remember what happened?  Tord internally grinned as he imagined what this huge advantage gave him. Since Matt trusted him, it'll be easier to look for his "item". The others will slowly come around, well at least Edd will. One of them definitely has it. He just needs to snoop around a little bit. Perhaps they stashed it in their closet? Or under their bed? It's hard to guess, but he was determined to find it. And when he does? Boy will they pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let you all know, I update this story on two different websites: here and Wattpad. This story is updated first on Wattpad so if you want to see new updates firsthand then check out my Wattpad.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaa what am I doing with my life??

"Okay Tord, I'm going to put on some cream, it's going to sting a little, just a little heads up," Edd said, smearing some of the cream onto his hand. 

Once he was sure he had enough, he gently reached over and began to lightly apply the medicine over the inflamed wounds. Tord grit his teeth as he felt a searing pain throughout his whole face. Alright, so maybe he "fibbed" a little when he said the doctors fixed him up. This was the most care he'd received on his face so far. 

When he was satisfied, Edd withdrew his hand and produced a roll of gauze. He made quick work of wrapping the right side of Tord's face. When he was finished, he added a strip of tape and stood back to admire his work.

"All done," Edd announced proudly. "How do you feel?"

"I can't feel my face," Tord retorted.

"That means it's working, right?" Matt asked. 

"It sure does, Matt," Edd nodded. "But really though, Tord, how do you feel?"

"Why are you doing all of this?" Tord exploded. "I've betrayed your trust and you hate me. So why in the world would you be helping me?"

Edd shifted his feet as he took on a pained expression. "Listen, I know we're not on the best of terms, but just because you've wronged me doesn't mean I want to see you in pain. You are - were - one of my closest friends and friends have to help each other no matter what. Matt, untie his ropes."

Tord's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the bonds fall loosely to the floor. He always knew Edd was a sucker and trusted people maybe a little too much, but damn he was effective in getting his points across. Perhaps that was Edd's biggest weakness: trust. And what's the point of using brute strength in his mission if he could instead be _effective_ and use his biggest weakness against him?

In a bold move, Tord walked toward the two men and enveloped them into a group hug. "Ah, I've honestly missed this. Truthfully, I wanted to come back to make amends and hopefully rekindle our old friendship. I've felt guilty ever since it happened."

"Well you're still my friend!" Matt flashed a huge grin in which the Norwegian reciprocated.

"To be honest, it'll take a while to regain our friendship, but I'm willing to try," Edd added. 

The fake smile Tord presented was so wide that his muscles ached from strain. Their true friendship ended a long time ago and it would never go back to the way it was. Hopefully he didn't have to keep up this ruse for too long; he couldn't stand those two idiots.

••••

_Breathe in, breathe out, you can probably do this Tom!_

The blue-hoodied male stood outside of Edd's apartment. After recovering from his drunken spell, he was finally ready to confront Tord. He gave a final sigh and knocked on the door. A couple minutes go by and yet he was greeted with total silence.

"Uh Edd, Matt, you guys okay in there? Commie didn't get you, did he?" Tom called. No response.

Slightly worried, Tom whipped out his phone and dialed his friend's number. To his relief, Edd picked up on the first ring.

"Oh hey Tom! We've been wondering where you went!" Edd's cheerful voice echoed through the phone.

"Yeah I'm outside your apartment, where are you guys?" Tom demanded.

"We're down at the lobby, come find us!" Matt exclaimed through the phone, which Tom could only guess was on speaker.

"Okay, but where's T-" Tom was interrupted as the phone suddenly hung up. 

Grumbling in annoyance, he made his way over to the elevator. To his luck, it was undergoing maintenance. With a string of expletives, he made his way down the stairs. Wow, he definitely needed more exercise. 

Out of breath and heavily panting, Tom arrived on the lobby floor. He scanned the room before identifying three men in individual green, purple, and red hoodies. Great, Tord was with them. With a sigh, he walked over to join them.

"Hey guys," Tom greeted, giving them a small wave of acknowledgement. All three of the men turned to face their friend as Edd and Matt smiled. Tord, however, gave a visible scowl as his silver eyes met Tom's black eyes. 

Tom chose to ignore him and gestured around the room. "So why are you guys down at the lobby?"

"Oh! Todd's moving in!" Matt responded. 

"...What?" Tom's eyes turned white in shock. 

"Ah yes, room 115," Tord added, an evil smirk on his face. "You're room 116, right Tom? Nice to meet you then, _new neighbor._ ” 

Tom suddenly felt like getting blackout drunk again.


	5. Chapter 5

"Jeez, what does the commie put in these things?" Tom groaned as he carried a particularly heavy box into Tord's new apartment. The box Tom carried was cardboard and looked on the brink of falling apart, only holding together by the multiple layers of duck tape carelessly taped on the box.

It's not like Tom's only helping so he could snoop through his belongings and blackmail him. No, that'd be ridiculous. Tom was only doing this out of the kindness of his own heart.

Edd opened his mouth to respond before Tom interrupted, "Yeah never mind, I probably don't want to know." 

••••

When Tom first heard the news that Tord would be moving in, he was shocked and no doubt furious. His immediate reaction was to yell and promptly refuse. Didn't Edd and Matt understand Tord was dangerous? Wasn't Tord blowing up their house proof enough? Why did they think they tied him up in the first place? The situation wasn't all "sunshine and lollipops" and Tom seemed to be the only one competent enough to understand that.

After Tom's outburst, Edd calmly told him that they were trying to rekindle their old friendship and Tord was legitimately sorry over what happened. 

To which Tom retorted, "'sorry' my ass! That devil doesn't have a single ounce of remorse in his entire body!"  

This, of course, was met with a multitude of glares yet Tom couldn't find it in him to care. It wasn't until Edd's next response that really surprised him.

"Tord is trying to be a better person and as his friend I will fully support him. That's what friends do Tom, they forgive! Sure, Tord's made mistakes in his past, but he's only human. We all make mistakes! Forgiving him for what happened will take time, but just like Tord I'm trying to be a better person too and learn forgiveness. You can either choose to forgive or you can let your bitterness consume you. It's your choice Tom. I won't judge you, though just know we're not going to wait for you to make up your mind."

As if on cue, Edd, Matt, and Tord all turned around and began to walk towards the stairs. Tom's friends were just going to leave him! He couldn't lose them!

"Wait!" Tom yelped, catching the attention of all three. "I suppose I can try to make an effort to be nice," he said as he nervously scratched the back of his head. Yeah right.

Edd and Matt cheered at their friend's change of heart and almost immediately began preparations for Tord moving in. 

Despite what he said, Tom knew something wasn't quite right. He couldn't let his guard down. Not this time.

••••

"Ah, it's so great to finally get settled in. Thanks for the help, friends!" Tord beamed as they moved in the last cardboard box. The Norwegian's new apartment wasn't anything too spectacular. The rooms were painted a bright yellowish-orange and the kitchen contained only the bare necessities of two countertops, a stove, a microwave, and a fridge. Only about two people could comfortably fit in the kitchen before it got too crowded. The living room was completely bare except for a red loveseat and a cheap tv. The bathroom was extremely small but at least the landlords were kind enough to leave some toilet paper. The bedroom was also small and contained only a makeshift sleeping bag until his bed arrived. Connected to the bedroom was a small closet where Tord gracefully stuffed all of his boxes. Nothing too special, though Tord couldn't complain. He's had worse living conditions. 

"No problem Tord, glad to help!" Matt exclaimed, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. 

"Help? _We_ did all the work," Edd rolled his eyes, though he couldn't help but laugh in good nature. 

Tom almost gaged from the lighthearted conversation, especially while in the presence of _him_. He bit his tongue as to hold back a jarring remark, deciding not to ruin the moment. Sure, he may not like Tord, but if his friends were happy then that's good enough for him.

"So what's next?" Tord asked.

"Oh! We definitely need to go to the grocery store to pick you up some food for your apartment. Don't worry about pay, I've got you covered, my treat," Edd said. 

"What do you mean you 'got it covered'? We don't have jobs Edd, how in the world do we even afford these apartments? How do we even afford food?" Tom suddenly exclaimed.

Edd's eyes widened in realization as he understood Tom's point. How _do_ they even afford all this stuff? It's almost like they live in a poorly written fanfiction or something. 

"You know what, it doesn't matter," Edd shook his head. "Off to the store we go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh I’m back baby! I hope the way the characters react seem realistic to the actual show. Also next chapter will be a lot better, please don’t leave yet lol.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edd, Matt, Tom, and Tord go to a grocery store. Chaos ensues.

As soon as they parked their car at the grocery store, Matt's face lit up like a Christmas tree. True to his child-like soul, Matt knew the store as his personal playground. Toilet paper isle here he comes!

"Matt, wait, come back!" Edd yelled as they watched the ginger sprint toward the double doors. Whelp, he was gone. 

"Oh he'll be fine," Tord scoffed. "What's the worst he could do?"

Edd opted not to respond, instead nervously flicking his eyes from Tord to the double doors. It's not like he would know about the _cheese incident_ that happened a couple months ago. Edd shuddered when he remembered pounds upon pounds of dairy products littering the grocery store floor. This had all started when Matt had taken a particular liking to playing pirate and was sprinting through the isles yelling that he was "Captain Matt Yarrgreaves". During his pirate quest, Matt decided to swing from a door; holding his trusty sword (plunger) in one hand while the other tightly gripped the door handle. In an unfortunate turn of events, the door swung open and all of the inside contents toppled to the floor (Matt included). To the ginger's misfortune, he had accidentally spilled gallons upon gallons of milk all over the floor. After taking a minute to recover from the fall, Matt attempted to stand up and continue running but slipped on the milk and started to fall once again. He screamed and grabbed onto the nearest object for support, which just so happened to be a huge rack of cheese. Due to the force of Matt falling, he accidentally jerked on the rack and sent the entire thing of cheese toppling to the floor. When Tom and Edd had arrived on the scene, Matt was completely smothered in a pile of cheese and a puddle of milk. It was truly such a _morbier_ sight. 

"Hey Edd, aren't we banned from this place?" Tom asked as he closed the car door, interrupting Edd's flashback.

Tord gave the duo a questioning stare while Edd nervously scratched his head.

"Well yeah?" Edd responded. "But I got a full-proof plan, don't worry!"

Before Tom or Tord could respond, Edd reached into his hoodie pocket and produced three fake mustaches.

"Ta-da!"

"Edd you're an idiot, there's no way that's going to work," Tom said. 

"Oh yeah? Like you have a better idea?" Edd rolled his eyes. 

"Actually yeah I do," Tom said in a deadpan tone. "We could just, y'know, go to the other grocery store just down the block."

"Aw but that's no fun," Tord smirked as he elbowed Tom in the shoulder. Tom gave a dangerous growl but decided not to cause a scene.

Taking on a determined look, Edd handed over the two mustaches and began to lead the way towards the front of the store. The mission? Find Matt. The groceries could wait.

When the trio entered the store, they were relieved to find the area still intact. Looks like Matt hasn't caused any trouble yet. 

"Alright, looks like we should split up to search," Edd said. "Tom, Tord, you two go together. I'll go alone."

"What? Edd that's a terrible idea! You know Tord and I-" Tord quickly covered Tom's mouth. 

"-get along just fine, don't we Thomas? Don't worry Edd, we'll find him in no time," Tord smiled.

Edd gave a sigh of relief and simply waved before running off towards the dairy isle.

Once Edd was out of sight, Tom bit down hard on Tord's hand. The red-hoodied male yelped in pain as he quickly withdrew his hand.

"Quit the bullshit commie, what are you up to?" Tom demanded as he glowered at the slightly taller male. 

"Look, I didn't come back to be friends with _you_. Let's just tolerate each other until we can find the ginger weirdo. Then we'll hopefully never have to talk to each other again," Tord rolled his eyes as he began to walk away, Tom begrudgingly following along. 

Tord honestly didn't think getting along with Tom was possible at this point. Sure, he could easily fake it with Edd and Matt but Tom was an entirely different story. There's just something about him that Tord couldn't stand, and no amount of pretending will ever hide the disgust that he feels for the blue-hoodied male. Besides, he highly doubted Tom would have what he's looking for. No use in wasting time on a lost cause, right?

••••

"Matt, where are you?" Edd shouted, looking through each individual isle. He occasionally had to readjust his mustache to make sure it didn't fall off. Oh well, that's what he gets for buying them cheap. 

After what felt like hours of searching, he eventually recognized a tuft of ginger hair in the toilet paper isle. Edd's face lit up as he rushed over to join his friend.

"Matt, thank goodness I found you! I was so worried!" Edd exclaimed, out of breath, as he put his hand on his shoulder. 

Matt turned to look at Edd and gave a cheeky smile. "That's great Edd, I'm glad you found me when you did! Because you sure seem _wiped_ out!" 

"Haha yeah," Edd laughed. "I sure am on a _roll_ today."

After a while of talking, Edd took out his phone and texted Tom and Tord that he had found Matt and they were currently getting groceries. Hopefully they'll read it soon, Edd wasn't sure it was such a good idea to leave the two alone together for so long. 

••••

"Ring ring, it's for you," Tord said as he handed Tom a banana.

Tom looked at the devil-horned male and squinted his eyes. Did he think he was an idiot or something?

After a moment of awkward silence, Tom snatched the banana from Tord's grasp and violently squeezed it, watching as its innards fell to the floor.

"Any other bright ideas?" Tom snarked. 

"Alright, you don't have to be a dick about it," Tord said as his patience quickly ran thin. 

"I don't think that's possible around you," Tom responded. "You nearly kill me and then expect that I'm going to tolerate your existence. Not a chance. I don't know what you're planning by coming back, but I'm going to make sure it fails. You-"

Before Tom could finish his sentence, a tomato was hurled at his face and knocked him straight in the jaw. He held his face in pain as he looked at his enraged attacker, Tord. 

"Oh so that's how you wanna play, huh?" Tom grimaced.

In return, he grabbed a pineapple and chucked it in Tord's direction. He gained a satisfied smile when he heard it impact his body. Serves him right. 

Tom gasped as he jumped out of the way, nearly avoiding a heavy collision from a stray cantaloupe. Multiple screams from nearby customers were heard as the food war intensified; people quickly scrambled to move out of the danger zone. 

As time continued, more food began to litter the floor. Tomatoes, pineapples, cantaloupes, apples, melons, carrots, potatoes, you name it, surrounded the two men as they continued their fight. 

The fight would have lasted all day if not for a couple workers who managed to tackle Tom and Tord to the ground. The floor was absolutely covered in food and had garnered much attention from a large crowd of people. 

Tom and Tord were then handcuffed and forced into a back room. The room was somewhat small and contained a desk, computer, and about four chairs in front of the desk. They could only guess this was the manager's office. Surprisingly, in two of the chairs sat Edd and Matt who were also handcuffed. 

All four widened their eyes as they began to question why the other was in trouble. 

"Gentleman, enough talking," the manager behind the desk snapped. She glared at the two new arrivals, noticing their disheveled appearance and fruit juice stained clothes. 

"You two," she pointed an offending finger at Tom and Tord. "You were having a food fight in _my_ store? There is food all over the floor! What in the world were you two thinking?" she was nearly screaming at this point.

"And _you_ ," she turned her attention to Edd and Matt. "You had the audacity to come back after I specifically banned you from this store! You are all in so much trouble!"

The poor men were left to cower in fear as the enraged woman was nearly frothing at the mouth. She had officially snapped. 

After a long time of coaxing and haggling, Edd managed to calm the woman down. She eventually agreed to let them off without criminal charges, though they were entirely responsible for cleaning up the mess Tom and Tord had caused, as well as paying for any damages. Whelp, there goes their entire day.

When they had finished by nightfall, they all agreed to never return _ever again_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeee it’s been weeks since my last update, sorry! I hope this longer chapter will suffice though. I had a lot of fun writing this. 
> 
> Also I’ve been planning on making another Eddsworld story but it would be more like oneshots and just simple shorts that are written similar to Eddisodes. They wouldn’t have shipping (sad day) but are just supposed to be happy and lighthearted. If you have an idea for a one shot, let me know and I might use it!


	7. Chapter 7

After the group of friends finally finished cleaning up the store, getting groceries seemed like too much of a hassle. So logically, they decided to go to a cheap diner that was right across from their apartment complex. 

The four friends sat down at a vacant booth, Edd and Matt sitting on one side and forcing Tom and Tord to sit on the other side. Granted, they scooted as far away from each other as the tiny booth allowed. The poor lads were still covered in food stains. As per punishment from Edd, the duo was forced to walk around in their dirty clothes the rest of the day. Edd said something like, "Now you'll have to face the consequences of your actions... blah blah blah" something like that. Needless to say Edd was NOT happy. 

"I still can't believe you two did that," Edd said, face buried in a menu. He was currently refusing to make eye contact with the two men across the table. 

In annoyance, Tord slammed his menu on the table. "Okay, we get it Edd, you don't have to keep shaming us."

"Well what do you expect? We had to clean that store for hours and had to shell out a lot of money! It's not just something I can get over easily," Edd responded as he also slammed his menu on the table. 

Tom clenched his teeth and was about to make a snide comment before the waitress walked over to their booth. Matt immediately shrank away from her, noticing she was the same threatening waitress from the last time they came here. She was mean, Matt didn't like her. In fear, he lightly clutched onto one of Edd's sleeves.

"Now what can I get for you boys?" she asked as she pulled out her notebook and pen. 

"Eh, I guess I'll just have a salad, I'm not that hungry," Tom shrugged. 

"I'll take a cheeseburger," Tord said.

The waitress nodded as she wrote down the orders. She then turned over to Edd and Matt. "What does the nice couple want?" she asked. 

"Oh, we're not-" Edd began to say.

"- I'll have a meat and potato pie!" Matt quickly chimed in. 

"Uh, ditto I guess," Edd sighed in a defeated tone.

The waitress quickly jotted down the rest of the orders and promptly walked away. 

"Aw, the adorable couple ordered the same food," Tord snickered as he held his hands close to his face and fluttered his eyelashes.

Tom caught on and mimicked Tord's actions. Man was it fun to mess with your friends!

"Guys stop, it's not funny," Edd flushed from embarrassment. 

Tom and Tord both laughed at Edd's reaction and started to make kissy faces. Much to their delight, this only fueled the cola lover's bashfulness even more. 

"Huh? Edd, why are you so red?" Matt asked as he poked Edd's cheek. 

Edd batted away Matt's hand and opted to face plant the table. He slightly groaned from the pain of the impact and Tom and Tord's laughter became obnoxious. 

"What's wrong?" Matt asked.

Edd sighed and sat up, managing to look Matt in the face. "Did that not... bother you?" he said.

"What?"

"She called us a couple, Matt."

"Well of course we are!" Matt beamed. "A couple of besties!" 

Edd's mouth fell open in disbelief, how could he possibly be this dumb? If Tom and Tord's laughter wasn't loud enough already, it now increased tenfold. Surely the whole diner could hear them at this point. 

Edd decided not to continue the discussion and went silent the rest of the day. Tom, Tord, and Matt continued in their own discussions yet Edd couldn't have been bothered to join in. He felt way too bothered. It was just a simple mistake... why was it such a big deal?

••••

It was early at night when a soft knock at his bedroom door startled Edd back to reality. Without answering, the door opened up and a bright light flooded the dark room. Edd cringed from the brightness and shielded his eyes.

"Alright Edd, what's the matter," he heard Tom's gruff voice greet him. 

"Nothing," Edd sighed. "It's not a big deal."

"Well if it gets you to shut up all day then, yeah, it's a big deal," Tom said. 

Edd went to respond before quickly being interrupted for the second time that day. Psh, it's not like he's been counting or anything. 

"I know, let's head out to the bar and talk about it. Don't worry about paying, my treat," Tom offered. 

Edd squinted his eyes, "who are you and what have you done with the real Tom?"

"Huh?"

"Wanting to go out? Being nice? That's not like you at all," Edd remarked. 

Tom scratched the back of his head. "Well, I guess I just don't like seeing you so upset?"

Edd raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Also I wanted to get away from Tord."

"Yep, there it is."

Edd agreed to Tom's offer and they soon left the apartment complex.

••••

Edd normally wasn't someone who went out to a bar, but getting a moment to talk to Tom was worth it. The bar was filled to the brim with drunken customers and loud noises. What a perfect place to have an intimate discussion.

Tom, of course, ordered a bottle of Smirnoff while Edd ordered a bottle of cola. Not that surprising considering Edd never really liked alcohol. 

"You drink too much," Edd muttered as they sat down at their seats.

Tom rolled his nonexistent eyes, "Yeah, okay, but that's not what we're here to talk about. So, spill."

"I just- ugh!" Edd groaned, lying his head on the table once again. At least this time it was much more gently. 

"Life sucks," he complained.

"Yeah, it does."

"It's like our problems never really go away," Edd continued to vent.

"Yeah, they don't."

Edd rolled his eyes, "you're helpful."

"Yeah, I am."

"Man, how do you deal with your problems?" Edd asked. 

"I don't."

Edd turned to look at Tom with a questioning gaze, though the look he received in turn was a small smile. One he knew to be Tom's signature look of "keeping cool on the outside and painful screeching on the inside". Relatable. 

"Back to the main topic here," Tom cleared his throat. "Why is being mistaken as a couple bothering you so much? It's just a misunderstanding. Look, Matt didn't think much of it and you shouldn't either."

"That's because Matt's dumb," Edd replied. "And I'm not really sure? Like, I know we're just friends but it made it so uncomfortable for me."

Tom was deep in thought as he tried to wrap his head around the issue. Sure, it was somewhat awkward, but normally Edd would've brushed it off by now.

"Do you, uh," Tom began, unsure of how to word it. ".... like Matt?"

Edd's eyes flew open wide in shock and was unfortunately interrupted again for the third time that day.

"Not that there's anything wrong with liking guys," Tom quickly added. "I wouldn't judge you."

The look in Edd's eyes displayed such a wide range of emotions that Tom was unsure of what Edd was thinking. Was he angry? Happy? Sad? Disturbed? He couldn't tell. 

Finally, after an inner turmoil, one clear emotion shown above the others: pain. 

"No, I don't like guys," Edd finally said after a while of silent inner turmoil. 

"Alright, so you like girls, then what's the issue?" Tom pressed on. 

"No, I don't," Edd choked out. "I don't like girls either." 

It was almost as if he was just now allowing these new emotions to take form. Like repressed emotions that have been building for years but were denied the right to blossom. It was unhealthy. And as Edd admits these things, not only to Tom, but to himself as well, it was painful. It was like some foreign object dislodged in your throat. You would try to swallow it down but it was stuck. Then all of the sudden you feel the worst, yet most relieving, feeling as you finally cough the object up. 

"I- Huh, that's new," Tom simply said. 

"I always hated when someone mentioned relationships," Edd admitted. "The idea seems nice, but I feel like I could never enjoy it. I'm jealous of people who do feel those emotions. Why do they get to be happy and in love while I don't? It's not fair! It's not normal! I want to feel that way too! I want to feel the closeness and warmth with someone close. It's like I've been cheated!" By this point Edd was near tears. He's never talked about his emotions this much before. 

Suddenly, Edd realized he'd been engulfed into a tight, warm hug. The person hugged him tightly and Edd buried his face in the person's shoulder and cried.

"Well, for what it's worth," Tom said. "I like you for who you are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hecky, I got a little emotional at the end there. If you couldn’t tell from the context clues, yes, Edd is asexual. He doesn’t want to be, though. He feels cheated and feels like he’s missing something important. He wants to experience attraction like everyone else. My little aroace heart cries for him too. (Also I’m aware the ending is cheesy lol.)
> 
> Also! You should follow me on Tumblr! My username is Ace-Altair


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